tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16168742571689077302024-03-21T03:05:13.872-07:00The Urban RabbiJews wander. Jewish communities migrate. Half a century ago these communities migrated on various wheel spokes outward, their institutional identities and Torah scrolls in tow. In recent years, a new pattern has emerged, and America's cities are bursting again with Jewish life. This blog contains my reflections on the work of an urban rabbi in a city as complex - exciting, expansive, provincial, gritty, isolating, political and inspiring - as Baltimore.The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-53752807089035350722015-09-25T11:47:00.004-07:002015-09-25T11:47:52.992-07:00My New Blog LocationIf you'd like to read more recent blog posts, you can find them <a href="http://theurbanrabbi.wordpress.com/">here</a><br />
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<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-26422454632422381782015-03-23T11:27:00.001-07:002015-03-23T11:27:19.600-07:00I'm back!My friends and devoted readers,<br />
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Due to a series of unfortunate events, I almost lost control of my url -- which is why those of you who tried to access this blog have been unable to do so for a while. The problem has now been corrected, so keep your eye out for future posts! Thanks for your interest!<br />
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DanielThe Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-79822666618965064462014-12-22T11:24:00.001-08:002014-12-22T11:24:08.483-08:00Beth Am at 40: Our Remarkable Past, Our Dynamic Present and Our Promising Future<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/48ubKRPU2Ns" width="480"></iframe><br />
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-63505602673528233182014-12-16T13:42:00.002-08:002014-12-16T13:42:11.996-08:00Beth Am on the Front Page!<a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-beth-am-hanukkah-20141212-story.html#page=1">Here's the piece</a> and photos by Amy Davis from today's Baltimore Sun. <br />
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<a href="http://bethambaltimore.org/whatsnew/events/">Come celebrate</a> 40 years in Reservoir Hill this weekend!<br />
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-16559347791604304662014-12-12T03:16:00.003-08:002014-12-12T07:18:58.436-08:00Breakfast "Serial:" Convicting a City Without a TrialCheck out this <a href="http://charmtv.tv/shows/my-town/episodes/21st-century-communities">video</a>! (All of it's pretty good, but go to <b>minute 18:10 through the end</b> of the episode if you're in a rush).<br />
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I'm pleased the folks at Charm TV saw fit to feature Reservoir Hill and Beth Am in their weekly show <i>My Town.</i> There are so many ways to portray a city, and this positive, heartwarming approach is a nice counterpoint to the standard fare of violence and corruption, the subject matter of so many Baltimore-focused shows and movies. <br />
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Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who hates <i>The Wire </i>because it portrays Baltimore in a bad light. As far as I'm concerned, <i>The Wire</i> is one of the best shows to grace the airwaves. Ever. We, in Baltimore, in my hometown of Chicago, in Cleveland, New York, Atlanta, or Ferguson, MO, can learn a lot about urban challenges from this show because, on some level and to some degree, they are endemic in every city. It takes a lot of courage and class to admit you have problems. Shows like <i>The Wire</i> throw down the gauntlet. There are plenty of ways we fail, but there are also countless ways Baltimoreans are rising to the challenge!<br />
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But this week, I had a slightly different reaction to a show. A different show. I, like millions of other listeners, have been firmly hooked by the NPR podcast <i><a href="http://serialpodcast.org/">Serial</a>.</i> If you don't know -- and how could you not? -- it's tells the true story of a Baltimore man who, as a teen and student at Woodlawn High School, was accused and convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend. He's fifteen years into a life sentence. The podcast is thoroughly engrossing, raising all kinds of questions about the case itself but also about the criminal justice system in which it was so clearly mishandled.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My view of Beth Am during my morning workouts</td></tr>
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Last week as I was my doing my morning workout in our home across from the shul and listening to episode 10, I was surprised, and not in a good way, by a throw-away line in Sarah Koenig's narrative. Koenig quotes a particular argument from the prosecution that ostensibly casts Adnan Syed as a masogynistic and vindictive young man because those are his cultural and religious values (his family is originally from Pakistan). "How easy it is to stir stereotypes in with facts, all of which then gets baked into a story," Koenig bemoans. And she's right. Whatever the facts of the case, to imply that all young men of Pakistani heritage or all Muslims behave in a particular way or have identically depraved values is pure bigotry. <br />
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So Koenig is (rightly) concerned about prejudice when it comes to people. She meticulously investigates each character (lawyers, cops, friends, etc.), every angle, each obvious or tenuous reason to suspect Syed's guilt and every evidential, procedural or character-based reason not to. <br />
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But what made me frown that morning was my realizing she doesn't seem to apply the same scrutiny to another prominent character in her story: <b>the city of Baltimore</b>. She quotes a judge during jury selection as various potential jurors admit biases, outright prejudices and conflicts of interest. One juror, Koenig reports, says, "we moved from a very peaceful town in Oregon to a violent community." In response the judge says flippantly, "welcome to Baltimore." It's a punchline to her narrative and Koenig leaves us there to chew on it.<br />
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Art is meant to be provocative. That's what's great about <i>The Wire; </i>it makes us think and question and reflect. And <i>Serial</i> does this too. Sarah Koenig has millions of people around the world questioning our criminal justice system. She's a brilliant story-teller, but in so convincingly utilizing what she calls "the bad-ass city" as the seedy backdrop to her sordid tale, she flattens and ultimately does violence to a diverse, deliciously complex and, in my opinion, pretty great town.<br />
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Maybe her time as a <i>Baltimore Sun </i>reporter left her jaded, I don't know. I wish she felt as compelled to watch twelve minutes of the video above as she does to read thousands of pages of case history and record hundreds of hours of conversations. Because I'm so taken with her and her program, I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt, to believe she simply doesn't know all the good stories about this town and not that she's ignoring signs and evidence like so many characters in her podcast. <br />
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<i>I ask you Ms. Koenig: In order to give us the big, robust and nuanced picture of Adnan Syed, do you really need to make Baltimore so pathetic?</i><br />
<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-62500108730173281582014-12-04T07:27:00.003-08:002014-12-04T07:42:25.133-08:00The New Jewish Neighborhood in Print!I'm honored to be included in a rich and provocative new book on Rabbincal seminary education! <br />
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Click on this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Faith-Rabbis-Conversation-Rabbinical/dp/0982753071/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417706123&sr=1-1&keywords=keeping+the+faith+in+rabbis">link</a> to purchase the e-book or print copy!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bTrR66et9Uk/VIB_hKkrV-I/AAAAAAAAAKI/siZ22Sq5OzQ/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bTrR66et9Uk/VIB_hKkrV-I/AAAAAAAAAKI/siZ22Sq5OzQ/s1600/image.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GVYyGw8NZWU/VIB_hZoqG-I/AAAAAAAAAKM/GfqP1rQ4yik/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GVYyGw8NZWU/VIB_hZoqG-I/AAAAAAAAAKM/GfqP1rQ4yik/s1600/image.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><img src="webkit-fake-url://a837e2c3-09b8-46ac-a9d3-5bbc10c83af7/imagejpeg" />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-58711242120042335952014-12-01T17:13:00.003-08:002014-12-04T03:34:14.778-08:00What's Red and Green and Black All Over?This coming Saturday, Dec. 6, is our neighborhood's annual <a href="http://www.poinsettiatourbaltimore.com/">Poinsettia Tour</a>. It's a lovely event featuring homes and places of worship in <a href="http://www.reservoirhill.net/">Reservoir Hill</a> and our surrounding neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, featured locations are each marked by a poinsettia plant at the front entrance. For years Beth Am has participated in the tour (We'll be open after services from 1-2. Check it out!) despite its occurring on Shabbat, understanding full well that Saturday is a good day for non-Jews (and non-observant Jews) to mosey about appreciating some of historic Baltimore's grandest and most architecturally significant edifices. As you know if you're a regular reader of this blog, whenever possible we at Beth Am strive to be not just <a href="http://www.theurbanrabbi.org/2013/11/prepositional-judaism.html"><i>in </i>and <i>for </i>but also <i>of </i>our community</a> and participating in the Poinsettia Tour is one good way to do so.<br />
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But I must say I feel just a bit awkward placing Beth Am on the list of destinations partially because the event is on a Saturday but mostly because of the name which reflects a degree of cultural illiteracy ("ignorance" is too strong and loaded a term). This is a mixed community. There are many Christians to be sure, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and any number of other faith traditions represented. And poinsettias are, constitutionally by dint of their red and green color scheme, Christmas-oriented. This may not seem like a big deal, but I do believe the organizers of the event (who are friends and well-intentioned) are also missing an opportunity to engage certain member of or visitors to our community, helping us feel more a part of the festivities -- and less <i>apart</i>.<br />
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Color, not of flora but skin, seems to dominate the news these days -- with the epicenter of the crisis being in Ferguson, MO. I've debated for a while whether to weigh with this blog, and I must confess I do so with some trepidation. Nevertheless....<br />
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This weekend saw, among other things, the resignation of <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/darren-wilson-ferguson-officer-who-shot-michael-brown-resigns-n258226">Officer Darren Wilson</a> and St. Louis Rams players silent <a href="http://time.com/3611175/rams-players-use-hands-up-dont-shoot-pose-while-taking-field/">"don't shoot"</a> gesture which has juxtaposed the issue of policing and race and this weekend's other major domestic news item: <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11949855/ray-rice-baltimore-ravens-wins-appeal-eligible-reinstatement">Ray Rice's successful appeal</a> and the ongoing national conversation about off-the-field violence among NFL players. <br />
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I was reminded of my own cultural illiteracy this morning as I read the provocative Jacqueline Woodson <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/opinion/the-pain-of-the-watermelon-joke.html?_r=0">NY Times oped</a> detailing the author and 2014 National Book Award winner's experience of feeling blindsided by long-time friend and fellow author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket). The subject of the piece was an inoppo<span style="font-family: inherit;">rtune fruit reference, and the offending fruit was a watermelon (yes, it's red and and green which I fully recognize is only relevant in my own associative mind). Here's Woodson's account:</span><br />
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<i>"As I walked away from the stage to a standing ovation after
my acceptance speech, it was the last place in the world I thought I’d hear the
watermelon joke — directed by the M.C., Daniel Handler, at me. “Jackie’s
allergic to watermelon,” he said. “Just let that sink in your mind.” Daniel and
I have been friends for years. Last summer, at his home on Cape Cod, he served
watermelon soup and I let him know I was allergic to the fruit. I was
astonished when he brought this up before the National Book Award audience — in
the form of a wink-nudge joke about being black."<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>"In a few short words, the audience and I were asked to take
a step back from everything I’ve ever written, a step back from the power and
meaning of the National Book Award, lest we forget, lest I forget, where I came
from. By making light of that deep and troubled history, he showed that he
believed we were at a point where we could laugh about it all. His historical
context, unlike my own, came from a place of ignorance."</i></div>
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So here comes my confession: I had no idea watermelon was to African-Americans a fraught-fruit. For whatever reason I was unaware of the phenomenon Woodson describes: "...<i>I had seen the racist representations associated with African-Americans and watermelons, heard the terrifying stories of black men being lynched with watermelons hanging around them, watched black migrants from the South try to eke out a living in the big city...with trucks loaded down with the fruit</i>." Most of all, I didn't realize (or never bothered to notice) that despicable black caricatures often feature the seedy melon.</div>
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Had I been in the audience at the National Book Awards two weeks ago, I simply wouldn't have gotten the joke. This coming from a white man who lives in a majority black neighborhood in a city below the Mason-Dixon line, a city with a sordid history of Jim Crow racism and much worse. </div>
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My point here isn't self-flagellation; it's to illustrate a point: cultural (and often historical) sensitivity is the cornerstone of healthily diverse societies. With regard to Ferguson it seems to me, aside from the reactionary folks on both sides, there are two primary camps. One group, fully acknowledging racism is alive and well in America and a double-standard does exist in our criminal justice system, is mostly concerned with the facts of the case: Who was at fault? Was Officer Wilson justified? What are the standard rules of engagement and did Michael Brown behave in a manner warranting the use of deadly force? In other words, if he were a white kid would he still be dead? This was the basis of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/joe-scarborough-just-went-on-an-epic-tirade-about-ferguson-2014-12">Joe Scarborough's rant</a> on <i>Morning Joe</i> today. </div>
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The other camp, though, sees the Michael Brown shooting as a red herring. They're concerned with a different set of questions: What larger societal problems has this incident brought to the surface? Should police forces be outfitted as quasi-military organizations or should officers get out of their cars, walk the beat and get to know the communities they serve? What's a healthier balance between protecting American citizens in a post 9.11 era and protecting the rights of those same citizens? In what ways has race been a significant factor in police brutality, and how might this be addressed systemically? </div>
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I would submit that for any of us who don't live in Ferguson (and most people who do) the first set of questions is much less important than the second. We Americans think being informed is the same as understanding, so we assume an "eighteen-year-old punk" even if he was that is <i>just </i>that. Like a watermelon is just a fruit or a poinsettia is just a plant. But they're not. On some level they're symbols representing cultural awareness or blindness. Hillel the Elder said, "Do not judge another until you've stood in his place," which is another way of saying we simply don't know what we don't know. Remember that song from <i>Avenue Q</i> "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist?" The point isn't that we all hate a little. The point is that we all misunderstand a lot.<br />
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-31618077349963131212014-06-06T10:03:00.000-07:002014-06-06T10:03:13.588-07:00"Of" in Action: Wes Moore Speaks at Beth Am Tomorrow!<span style="font-family: inherit;">Planned collaboratively with our neighbors and community stakeholders, I am proud to say Mr. Moore's visit and the program surrounding it is "Of the Neighborhood" in action. </span><br />
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If you're in B'More, I'd be honored to welcome you to our shul tomorrow.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">Wes Moore Comes to Beth Am!</span></span></b><br />
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img align="left" border="0" height="185" hspace="5" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.218" src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs126/1103231280375/img/218.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_s1026" vspace="5" width="121" /><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>Services
& Stories at Beth Am</strong><b><br />
</b><strong>Saturday, June 7, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm </strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">9:30 am-12:15 pm - Wes Moore speaks during Shabbat Services<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">12:30-1:15 - Kiddush Lunch with Reservoir Hill neighbors<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1:15-2:30 - Multi-generational, multi-cultural storytelling
about making life decisions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2:30-3:30 - Ice cream social and informal discussion to explore
further collaboration to engage young people in the community<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001Ynkt-lP8tuvIzhhentBNKjbJbKqS-dZKQbJtxZcKneYNgQYK4cnuLKck7Fm5AtLHcb-9HfUo5d2u-zbGTacJ2WtvqZfrHtD3hAExNrHYla82pBERb82eFFWqUUducfnrjW5vkpCKbDR83egmYxIh0C_6V6gFjUwMQlnYb4K-dQIX3XKwSce-atrJLwzi_SmMze4DdJLSIkw=&c=CGuBWy2G23gxUtBt0TQ9gFYJbHsmDsy-sMbSiF5oE5_AblPckyVA1g==&ch=-4--QDcCno-uDmOk98kbu_7_db6bi_QKiB_EBRIdteich-P29iVUew==" linktype="1" shape="rect" target="_blank" track="on"><span style="color: #0066ff;">Learn
more</span></a> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-75963643915300045062014-05-14T07:18:00.001-07:002014-05-14T07:18:06.853-07:00Portrait of "The Urban Rabbi" Wins First Place!<div class="MsoNormal">
The <a href="http://issuu.com/cjvoices/docs/cj_winter_60p_lr">CJ Voices portrayal</a> of our work will receive the top
prize in its category at the American Jewish Press Association's 33rd Annual
Simon Rockower Awards. While
"poverty-stricken" or "drug infested" is a very limited
depiction of my neighborhood (as Schulson's article explains), I'm glad to see
the story of Beth Am and Reservoir Hill continues to gain national
attention. Here's the write-up:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Category 10: The David Frank Award for Excellence in
Personality Profiles</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Division C. Magazines; Special Sections and Supplements;
Web-Based Outlets.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>First Place</b></u></div>
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<b>CJ Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism, New
York, NY</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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"The Urban Rabbi" by Michael Schulson<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://betternewspapercontest.com/assets/538/attachments/201532822052e7c4a687f24_0.pdf"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://betternewspapercontest.com/assets/538/attachments/201532822052e7c4a687f24_0.pdf</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Comments</i>: "The Urban Rabbi" is an outstanding
portrait not only of a young, energetic and idealistic Conservative rabbi but a
complex community - Baltimore's Reservoir Hill, once a Jewish neighborhood and
now a poverty-stricken, drug infested corner of the city in which the rabbi's
synagogue sits. Author Michael Schulson conveys with insight and sensitivity
Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg's passion to build meaningful bridges between his
congregation and the neighborhood, thereby expressing the "fundamental
Jewish value" that all people are created in God's image. The story
benefits from Schulson's historical research as well as his successful attempt
to understand Rabbi Burg's background and inspiration, and reminds us that
"synagogue" can mean many things in contemporary American life.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-13301448952768527852014-04-25T12:49:00.003-07:002014-04-27T21:14:27.596-07:00The New Jewish Neighborhood (Part 10): Love Which Neighbor?As it happens, this week's Torah portion (<i>Kedoshim</i>) includes the ever-relevant verse: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). This charge to universalize our experience, to see ourselves in the other, inspired both Hillel the Elder's "What is hateful to you, do not do unto others" and Jesus' Golden Rule. But some interpreters of Jewish tradition, like Maimonides, have read the verse narrowly: love <i>Jewish</i> neighbors as yourself. This parochial urge was quite understandable in the ancient (and recent) world -- less than seventy years from the end of the Holocaust, and after hundreds and thousands of years of Jewish marginalization at best and violent persecution at worst. <br />
<br />
What's more, Jews have survived and thrived largely <i>because</i> of our sense of collective responsibility. While we've always been concerned about the outside community's welfare, particularly its impoverished and disadvantaged, we have largely taken care of our own. But even in the thirteenth century the venerable rabbi and thinker Nachmanides posited an interconnectedness of souls, transcending nationality or faith tradition, transcending all human distinction. After all, the Torah indicates we are each created in God's likeness and image! Otherness for Nachmanides is not unimportant, it's just not all-important. <br />
<br />
The truth is, we don't have to look beyond the same chapter of Leviticus to understand this impulse. Verse 34 makes explicit that you are to love the stranger <i>kamocha</i>, "as yourself" (same exact word). Tolerance isn't sufficient and seeing oneself in the other isn't aspirational, it's expected. Why? "…For you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Having been strangers means we Jews are sensitive to the estranged, the insider-outsider. We are reminded time and again that tribalism, while valuable, is no excuse for xenophobia. Indeed, it's a call to explore the Godliness that radiates between and among all of humanity. <br />
<br />
I live in a neighborhood which was once the Old Jewish Neighborhood. But today we aspire to a New Jewish Neighborhood. "Love your neighbor" takes on a different level of meaning when you place your circle of identity in a broader context. For me, for my family and our Beth Am community, it's about going deeper -- not to the negation of the self but, through a better understanding of the self (our history and values), to a new appreciation for the other.<br />
<br />
I love my neighbors.<br />
<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-35328362991853875902014-02-10T08:06:00.002-08:002014-02-10T08:06:27.835-08:00Being "Of" the Neighborhood: Afro-Semitic Experience in Concert!With a coalition spanning several Reservoir Hill neighborhood organizations and with generous funding from the <a href="http://www.bcf.org/">Baltimore Community Foundation</a> and the Schwartz Family Foundation, Beth Am was able to welcome a hip dynamic band blending the best of Jewish and African American musical cultures. We turned out over 350 people to pack our social hall and dance to the rhythms of the <a href="http://afrosemiticexperience.net/">Afro-Semitic Experience</a>. Here's a short video from the Baltimore City School system capturing the event which was as transcendent as it was transformative. Here's the <a href="http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Page/25044">link</a> if the video embedding gives you trouble: <span id="goog_1925112149"></span><span id="goog_1925112150"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/85460075" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-77001020018744676972014-02-03T06:50:00.003-08:002014-02-03T06:50:56.889-08:00Why Increase the Minimum Wage?In the twelfth century, Maimonides developed his "Ladder of Tzedakah." Understanding that giving was a process, he offered "rungs" to ascend in our increased engagement with the needy. While grudgingly giving was a minimal requirement and anonymous generosity a higher calling, the top of the ladder was to help increase self-sufficiency. This flies in the face of American "boot-strapism" which assumes self-sufficiency is a self-realized goal. But this is a fallacious and ultimately dangerous claim.<br />
<br />
Thousands in Baltimore City and across Maryland struggle with deep and endemic poverty, many single parents juggling multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Low wages mean time away from family, rest and recreation. An increase in the minimum wage to $10.10/hour and tip wages from 50% to 70% as a new bill in the Maryland legislature will require would allow more families to stay financially solvent. Together we can raise pay for 472,000 working Marylanders and the parents of 350,000 children.<br />
<br />
One way societies are judged is by how we respond to those who struggle. Maimonides understood this responsibility falls to us; breaking the cycle of poverty is a privilege and burden for the self-sufficient. The New Jewish Neighborhood calls on each of us to respond to the other across religious and class lines. Communities must work to grow and prosper together.The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-8035924556622769702014-01-03T06:36:00.002-08:002014-01-03T06:36:20.169-08:00CJ Voices Cover Story on The Urban RabbiThanks so much to <a href="http://www.cjvoices.org/">CJ Voices</a> for highlighting and celebrating the work of Beth Am and Reservoir Hill. It's a great honor to have our community featured on the<b> cover of this national publication</b>. My sincere hope is that my experience in Baltimore may have some impact on similar and dissimilar communities around the world. Whether you are urban or suburban, a shul, Hillel, day school or independent start-up, I believe we in Jewish communal life must all embrace and examine our Jewish particularism in relationship with the other. Kol Hakavod to <a href="http://michaelschulson.weebly.com/">Michael Schulson</a> for capturing our story so astutely and to the Conservative Moment for its desire to promote this type of Jewish work.<br />
<br />
The shtetl of Eastern Europe is no more. Self and society-imposed Jewish neighborhoods are increasingly a thing of the past. These new challenges bring with them limitless opportunities. May we all go from strength to strength!<br />
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For the full article go to: <a href="http://issuu.com/cjvoices/docs/cj_winter_60p_lr">http://issuu.com/cjvoices/docs/cj_winter_60p_lr</a></div>
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-21593294953331570002013-12-21T15:11:00.001-08:002013-12-21T15:31:44.863-08:00Train EnvyConsider this image a Beth Am'er sent me from the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/sleeping-stranger-subway-picture_n_4228826.html">Huffington Post</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1NzI7O8BiD8wxF2Bwv2IRtfk-492XbQldLSqGlyQDDdQuquzFwGY65NIVqw1fRItwm-xDWDK_4_gFrqtD4SV-qAWMYOIvIrzsHV1GKh84yh9ioBPr1STEFctBJnzGHZ4LPDA7QTpKZE/s1600/o-SLEEPER-570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1NzI7O8BiD8wxF2Bwv2IRtfk-492XbQldLSqGlyQDDdQuquzFwGY65NIVqw1fRItwm-xDWDK_4_gFrqtD4SV-qAWMYOIvIrzsHV1GKh84yh9ioBPr1STEFctBJnzGHZ4LPDA7QTpKZE/s200/o-SLEEPER-570.jpg" width="149" /></a></div>
Are you surprised by it? What surprises you? The differing races? That these men are likely of different faith traditions? The personal contact between strangers? <br />
<br />
Or perhaps it's that all of this is occurring on the New York subway.<br />
<br />
I've spent the better part of a week studying human behavior on the subway, as I've been riding it three hours each day for five days between my friends' house in Queens and the Jewish Theological Seminary for a seminar. Glancing around the train at any given moment, one finds a veritable smorgasbord of human appearance and behavior: commuters in dress shoes, tourists in jeans with pamphlets or tickets in hand, native New Yorkers reading books, kids with backpacks on their way to school, teenagers quietly rocking out to their iPods. There is skin of every possible shade, clothing styles of every type, men, women, transgendered, young and old, rich and poor and in-between. The subway is New York City's great equalizer.<br />
<br />
There is one undeniable unifying behavior, though. Unless one knows the person standing/sitting nearby, nobody but nobody is making eye contact with anyone else. New York subway-riding is the finely honed art of staring anywhere but into the face of the other. Observing this behavior is amusing actually. People glance up from a book or iPad, eyes meeting fleetingly, then the connection is broken. Stare too long and you may get a threatening stare back. A few seconds longer, you're likely to get accosted. At rush hour, hundreds of people are crammed together, hands touching on poles, bodies compressed and hundreds of eyes are looking everywhere but at each other.<br />
<br />
My cousin Phil, <i>zichrono livracha</i>, used to tell a story. He was from Chicago but attended the University of Wisconsin. One day, he and his wife Rose, who is a native New Yorker and lives in Manhattan, were walking the streets of Madison, hand in hand. People would pass and, as is the custom in the Midwest, they would often say "hello." As Phil told the story every time this happened, Rose would dig her nails into his hand and ask, "Phil, why are they looking at us? Why are they talking to us?" I should be clear, my cousin Rose is just about the sweetest, most nurturing person you'll meet. The problem is not her. It's just that, when it comes to strangers, New Yorkers mostly go out of their way NOT to connect!<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I lived in Chicago, I would ride the "L" frequently, and the kids loved the trains. For Shamir's second birthday, all he wanted to do was ride the train. The kids' doctor's office overlooked the tracks, a nearly constant source of wonder. Here in Baltimore, at this time last year, we go to a fire station where they have artfully constructed and festive model train sets. To </span>children<span style="font-family: inherit;"> trains are fun, even romantic. But romance can fade as encounters with trains (or people) become routine. Different circumstances, but remember what Jake says to Elwood Blues</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">a</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">s the "L" comes </span>rumbling by the apartment window? Aykroyd's character<span style="font-family: inherit;"> asks, "How often does the train go by?" Belushi responds, "So often you <span style="font-family: inherit;">won't even notice it." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
The photograph above is provocative because it raises questions about difference. but it's surprising because instead of demanding what little personal space he could, Isaac Theil did a simple kindness. When another passenger offered to wake the sleeping man, Theil responded, <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">“He must have had a long day, let him sleep. We’ve all been there, right?” When the photo and story went viral, Theil was surprised. He didn't think he did anything all that special. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The best treatment of the photo, I think, comes from </span><a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/151711/a-kiddush-hashem-goes-viral" style="font-family: inherit;">Tablet Magazine</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> whose writer tracked down the Jewish man and interviewed him. Here's what he had to say:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Maybe the photo wouldn’t have become so popular if people weren’t seeing a Jewish man with a yarmulke and a black man in a hood, and because they might not necessarily correlate the two,” theorized Theil. “But there is only one reason that I didn’t move, and let him continue sleeping, and that has nothing to do with race. He was simply a human being who was exhausted, and I knew it and happened to be there and have a big shoulder to offer him.”</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 21px;">I spent this week jealous of New Yorkers who have such a great subway system -- the envy of cities like Baltimore who struggle with our general lack of good public transportation options. I had train envy -- for the convenience and for the opportunity to connect. I love New York, but many New Yorkers, it seems, have human contact fatigue. Trapped in the throng, they overlook the potential for meaningful human connection. But Isaac Theil remembered that there are things more important than personal space, than keeping up one's guard. He remembered two things people across the country so often forget: empathy and compassion.</span></div>
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-86081578020719059582013-11-19T09:50:00.001-08:002013-11-21T05:45:03.602-08:00Prepositional Judaism<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 13.3pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; text-justify: inter-ideograph; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The author and scholar, Rachel Adler, has written <span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">"Because God is Other, God creates a world filled with difference. Because God is Partner, all difference is filled with holy possibility." (</span><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>Engendering Judaism, </i>pg. 92). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A driving question for me in this blog (and in my life and work in Reservoir Hill) has been: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">H<b>ow do we relate to the other?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am distinctly aware of Baltimore's history of sometimes extreme, almost fundamentalist, "otherness" finding its most insidious expression in slavery, later racial and religious segregation policies, and the Eugenics Movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Baltimore was once of hotbed of such ideas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jewish tradition has always existed in the tension between the universal and particular, between understanding ourselves as simply in relationship with the other and casting our lot with the whole of humanity. Our sense of chosenness has sometimes meant a proclivity for the parochial. Even when Jewishness inspires outward actions, being a "light unto the nations" has found us at times bordering on the triumphal. Such is the case i<span style="line-height: 13.9pt;">n the realm of social justice where our posture has often been more about doing "for" others. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Prepositional Judaism" (though a new term) is a concept I've explored in other writings and speeches including a <a href="http://bethambaltimore.org/religiouslife/sermons/neighborhood">sermon</a> I gave at Beth Am, <span style="line-height: 13.9pt;">unveiling the notion of a "New Jewish Neighborhood." Though the wording may be just a bit clunky, this idea of our shul being not just "In" and "For" our neighborhood but increasingly "Of" it has lingered in our congregational consciousness. Through months of exploration and leadership development, we now better understand the triad of In, For and Of -- seeing the "Of" as a necessary bridge between the other two. In other words, we have begun to recontextualize (and broaden) the Jewish concept of tribalism for the 21st century. Where once the Jewish people consisted of twelve distinct tribes, now we are one tribe among many. And our tribe, looking both to thrive as a distinct entity and actualize our universalistic values, must better understand itself as profoundly connected to the other. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 13.9pt;">To this end, Beth Am, in collaboration with community residents and stake-holders, has recently hatched a new non-profit organization called "</span><span style="line-height: 13.9pt;">In For Of, Inc." While very much in its nascent and formative stages, according to our founding documents, IFO was created to explore funding opportunities for</span><span style="line-height: 13.9pt;"> "preservation, restoration, and renovation of the historic Beth Am
Synagogue" as well as "cultural and communal activities that promote close collaboration and
partnership between residents of historic Reservoir Hill... and
members of Beth Am Synagogue and to and facilitate [in collaboration with other groups] social justice causes within
the Neighborhood."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 13.9pt;">This is an exciting time in our synagogue's history. My sincere hope is that our awareness of, in Adler's words, both the otherness of and our partnership with God, will help concretize our sense of collective </span>sacredness of purpose. Could this<span style="line-height: 13.9pt;"> be a model for diverse communities around the country, even around the world? Who knows? But it sure feels like the right path for us.</span></span><br />
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-62718280984497413622013-11-06T14:14:00.002-08:002013-11-06T14:18:12.041-08:00Cast Your Vote for The Urban Rabbi!<a href="http://baltimoresun.com/mobbies" style="display: block; padding: 5px;" target="_blank"><img alt="vote for my blog in the mobbies early and often" src="http://data.baltimoresun.com/mobbies/images/mobbies-badge.jpg" /></a><br />
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My blog was nominated in the "Best Community Blog" category. I would be grateful for your support! Log in and vote. (Other native Chicagoans, feel free to vote more than once).<br />
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<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-9563622552026026702013-10-24T14:16:00.001-07:002013-10-24T14:28:35.907-07:00If a Torah Falls in the Shul....<i>Spoiler Alert: No Torah was dropped before or during the writing of this blog. </i> (<i>I know such things make Jews nervous!</i>)<i> </i><i>Ok, read on...</i><br />
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I'm often at Beth Am alone. I live across the street and the office is closed one day a week. So, quite frequently I find myself either working solo in the building, or running in to pick something up (e.g. a book) or complete a task (e.g. run off copies of a source sheet for class). It's eerily peaceful being in our ninety-year-old historic sanctuary late at night.<br />
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Recently, and on my way to a shiva minyan, I entered early in the morning, just as the sun was rising. The light was filtering through our understated stained glass; long shadows from the wooden pews began to creep across the sanctuary. It was a Monday and I needed to grab a sefer Torah for the service. Even before I placed the tenderly tallis-wrapped scroll in my trunk (functionally upgrading the worth of my vehicle from Subaru to Maserati), I had a moment's panic. What if, there alone in the shul, attempting to remove the <i>rimonim</i> and breastplate myself, I somehow dropped the Torah? Would I fast? Would I tell anyone? If a Torah falls in a shul, I thought to myself, and no one's around to see it, has it made a sound? Have I committed a sin?<br />
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The hypothetical reminds me of a scene from the golf movie <i>The Legend of Bagger Vance</i> when Matt Damon's character hits a wild shot into the woods and then, clearing debris for his next shot, causes the ball to move. The golfer is faced with a moral dilemma: Does he ignore the ball's tiny movement, take his shot and potentially win the round or does he take the penalty stroke ? His conscience is clear; he takes the penalty and 3-way ties Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. I think many of us would like to think we would do the same.<br />
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Much of my writing in this blog is about people, confronting, assimilating and transcending cacophonous urban living. The story of this "urban rabbi" is often about relationships. But as artist Edward Hopper pointed out in his paintings, there is solitude in the city -- actually a great deal of it. The moral life, no matter where one lives, derives from a sense of honesty with one's self and, ultimately, with one's God. We all have to decide what matters. Can we live with a win if we know it's really a lie? Is the Torah sacred or not? <br />
<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-36616033160025910522013-10-16T19:38:00.001-07:002013-10-17T06:07:54.526-07:00Mapping our WorldMichael Chabon, in an essay called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Manhood-Amateurs-CD-Michael-Chabon/dp/B0045EPCZA">The Wilderness of Childhood</a>," brings a poignant question about raising children in today's urban environment. He describes growing up in Columbia, MD, not far from Baltimore. Chabon contrasts much of today's child-rearing, especially among city dwellers, with his own experience exploring the forests and landscape near his home. "C<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">hildren endlessly revise and refine [maps of their worlds].</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Childhood," he writes, "is a branch of cartography."</span><br />
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So often, though, we restrict our children's movements, fearful for their safety. Some of this discretion is warranted, but we should acknowledge something critical is also being lost. Urban living brings with it many opportunities -- of learning and sensitively to the world's kaleidoscopic nature. But navigating city streets, crime, poverty, and the like necessarily causes responsible parents to think long and hard about protecting their children from harm.<br />
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This summer, I took my son Shamir on a camping trip to <a href="http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/cunningham.asp">Cunningham Falls </a>State Park in Northern Maryland. We had an amazing time, but our morning hike up the falls sticks out as illustrative of Chabon's point. That day, Shamir was absolutely determined to track the river to its source. He climbed rock faces and leaped over water, sand and stone. He lead, I followed -- and <i>kvelled</i>.<br />
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The only river near our home in Reservoir Hill is the Jones Falls. There's a nice bike path along it and herons nest in the branches above. But I wouldn't allow my son to go wading through that polluted stream, strewn with too much trash and run-off. <br />
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How can our children feel less encumbered in their own towns and neighborhoods? Author Lenore Skenazy published an oped in the New York Sun a few years back in which she described allowing her persistent, nagging, 9-year-old son to ride the subway by himself. Armed with a map, money and fare card, Izzie successfully rode the train home. For this, Skenazy has been called the "Worst Mom in America." You can read about it and watch the Today show interview <a href="http://www.freerangekids.com/about/">here</a>. But many, including this rabbi, feel kids need permission to take reasonably safe risks. Skenazy's blog and book (and parenting philosophy) is entitled <a href="http://www.freerangekids.com/">Free Range Kids</a>. How caged today's children must so often feel!<br />
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Raising children safely is important, of course, but raising independent, resilient kids is also critical. The Talmud (<i>Kiddushin </i>30b) says parents are obliged to teach our children to swim. They learn to swim. We learn we can't swim for them. Each parent must decide how and when to let go, but at some point, we all must do so.<br />
<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-54382629529115743642013-10-08T08:32:00.001-07:002013-10-08T08:32:21.671-07:00On Terrible Workouts and Glorious Distractions<div class="MsoPlainText">
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interruptions and lament the ubiquitous texts and the screens that insert themselves into the quiet of our lives. Last week
in Maryland, vehicular hand held cell phone use became a primary offense; how
many accidents are caused by distracted driving? We live in a society monumentally struggling
to maintain focus on just about anything, a conversation, a project, a book, the road. We try to unitask in a multitasking world -- and so often fail. </div>
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But can distraction ever be good? A couple weeks ago I had a distracted morning. I decided to go for a run around Druid Lake. It was early and the sun was just rising. It was so beautiful I felt compelled to stop, pause Rabbi <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/rabbi-david-wolpe/id361990101">David Wolpe's podcast</a> (I recommend them if you're looking for some good Torah), and pull out my iPhone so I could snap a photo. But as the sunrise evolved and the sky took on different hues, as I made my way around the reservoir and saw the city-scape, the park, the lake, the Moorish Tower I stopped again and again to capture just the right angle, each new perspective.</div>
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Realizing I wasn't getting my heart rate up, and running out of time to get back to the house, shower and drive the kids to school, I decided I'd better focus on my running. But a few minutes later, I passed by a group of gentlemen hanging out by the park's exercise equipment. Among them was a man named Steve who was one of the first people I met when I came to Baltimore. That first summer, our workout schedules overlapped. He would introduce me to his buddies, and we would check-in, shoot the breeze and compare exercise notes. By that September morning I hadn't seen Steve in well over a year, so of course I stopped to say hi. By the time I walked in the door to shower that morning, I had completed one single lap of Druid Lake (approximately 1 1/2 miles) in about 40 minutes. It was a terrible workout.</div>
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<o:p>Our Sages tell us we should ideally say one hundred blessings a day, pausing time and again to acknowledge some aspect of God's abundant, beautiful and purposeful world. The tradition gives us permission, even a mandate, to be distracted. But most times workouts must be completed, </o:p>spouses relieved of their duties and kids delivered to classes on time. How do we know when to remain focused? Which experiences and encounters should grab our attention and distract from the routines of our lives? Perhaps the answer lies in the very screens that so often draw our attention. It used to be that screens were something we looked through to see the world -- beyond our windows or front doors. Now screens are what we look at instead of the world around us. </div>
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That day in September I found myself mesmerized by the simple and elegant beauty of a sunrise, and I used my phone's camera to capture the moment. That morning I was grateful to see a friendly face and I paused to reconnect. Blessings are our response to wonder, and wonder is the natural result of truly listening to the universe as it calls out to us. Humanity is calibrated to respond to that universe with gratitude and awe. We know when our time has been wasted. We know when we've allowed ourselves to be distracted from things that matter by things that don't. And we know when the opposite is true.</div>
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That was the worst workout I've had in a while. But the best morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-83409983538476164882013-08-25T14:51:00.002-07:002013-08-25T14:51:26.814-07:00Checking for BugsIn the world of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), a good amount of attention is paid to the fine art of checking one's produce for bugs. The reason, contrary to the more cynically-minded among us, is not pure neurosis. Jewish legal codes have been clear for centuries that a <i>biryah </i>(a creepy-crawly creature) is <i>treif</i> (non-kosher) and cannot be annulled by even a thousand times it's volume in, say, romaine lettuce. Suffice it to say, this makes bug-checking of particular concern to the fastidiously pious. Some in the Orthodox world have (tragically, I think) gone so far as to ban certain bug-prevalent foods like fresh broccoli and raspberries simply because they are too difficult to sufficiently check. <br />
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I must confess, I'm pretty lax when it comes to bug-checking. I wash my veggies well. If I see a bug, I don't eat it. A leaf by leaf inspection is beyond my typical routine. Which is why it's ironic, to say the least, that a few weeks ago I found myself on lettuce-washing and bug-checking duty at our neighborhood <a href="http://whitelockfarm.wordpress.com/">urban farm</a>. I had made a point of volunteering this summer -- a resolution, I am ashamed to admit, between visiting my family at Capital Camps each week and preparing for the obscenely early High Holy Days, I was astonishingly bad at fulfilling. But I did work on the farm once and, on that day, I harvested mixed salad greens. </div>
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Having collected some large buckets of lettuce, it was now time to wash them. The farm's assistant manager and I took turns double-washing greens in two tubs, sloshing them around and skimming various insects (and debris) from the surface of the water. Of course, this is exactly the technique utilized by Jewish bubbes and cooks for generations. It simply took living and working in Reservoir Hill for me to experience it.<br />
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A life in the city is so often marked by its distance from nature, certainly from the agrarian societies of our past. I avoid bug-checking not because I don't care; kashrut is deeply important to me. I skip it because I suspect it's been done. Some big machine somewhere double-washed my lettuce before sealing it in a plastic bag. Ironically, returning to the land returned me to my tradition whose purpose is, among other things, mindfulness of the natural world. </div>
The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-28312086430338981152013-07-29T05:24:00.001-07:002013-07-29T09:24:05.324-07:00Nice Things (Part 2)Last year, I posted an entry entitled <a href="http://www.theurbanrabbi.org/2012/02/nice-things-nice-people.html">Nice Things, Nice People</a>. The thrust of the piece was my heartbreak for a misguided (read malevolent) bit of street "art" that was as capricious as it was destructive. Then, last month, I came across this article in the New York Times:<br />
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<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/us/as-vandals-take-to-national-parks-some-point-to-social-media.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">As Vandals Deface U.S. Parks, Some Point to Online Show-Offs</a></span></nyt_headline></h1>
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<i>"The cause of this recent spike in graffiti on public lands is unclear, but some park personnel say there is reason to believe that it coincides with the rise of social media. “In the old days,” said Lorna Lange, the spokeswoman for Joshua Tree, “people would paint something on a rock — it wouldn’t be till someone else came along that someone would report it and anybody would know about it.</i></div>
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<i>"She added, “with social media people take pictures of what they’ve done or what they’ve seen. It’s much more instantaneous.” And that instant gratification could stimulate the impulse to deface"</i></div>
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At Saguaro and other national parks, people have been defacing any number of objects including cactuses, ancient petroglyphs and other assorted natural treasures. If you've ever seen saguaros up close, you know how majestic they are; some rising to 70 feet tall, they grow their first arm when they're about 75 years old! If the theory is true and technology is driving this recent rash of vandalism, here is but another foolish act of wanton destruction and exhibitionism. </div>
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The Babylonian Talmud (<i>Gittin </i>56a) suggests the Second Jewish Temple was destroyed, in part, because (Jewish) zealots called Biryoni burnt wheat and barley stores deliberately causing a famine. This famine made nearly impossible any viable attempt at a peaceful solution with Rome, forcing the Jews of Palestine into open confrontation. It was in response to these vandals that Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai elected to be smuggled out of Jerusalem in a sarcophagus on his way to founding the yeshiva at Yavneh (the advent of post-exilic Rabbinic Judaism).</div>
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The world is smaller these days. There are no hills to which we can escape, satellites and cell phones blur distinctions between cities, countrysides and deserts. If this was largely true in the past when some occasional troublemaker would wreak havoc with a pocket knife, it is especially true when any fool in the wilderness can whip out a smart phone and immediately broadcast his misdeed to an unending landscape of voyeurs.</div>
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The human appetite for destruction has not increased; some among us have always been drawn to vandalism, anarchy or even violence. Cities (including Jerusalem, the city of cities) have suffered not only from outside aggressors but also from internal sabotage and incivility. </div>
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Rabban Yochanan had the foresight to recognize when it was too late. He lived to learn and teach (and fight) another day. But who says redeeming acts must only come when it's too late, when all other hope is lost? <br />
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In our day, we are fast running out of spaces to which we can flee. Certain aspects of human nature are always going to push certain people in certain directions. At some point, those of us who wish to preserve the nice things must make it harder for those who wish to destroy them. </div>
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-36001211546475814422013-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:002013-07-05T08:07:12.936-07:00The Urban Levites?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A Cool Piece from G-D Cast on this Week's Torah Portion...</div>
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Here's the link if you can't see the embedded video: <a href="http://www.g-dcast.com/masei">http://www.g-dcast.com/masei</a>.</div>
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<br />The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-86311316583126080112013-07-04T07:23:00.001-07:002013-07-04T07:23:14.817-07:00A Tale of Two Cities<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Not long ago, Miriam and I introduced our 7-year-old daughter to </span><i style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">An American Tale</i><span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">, a cherished film from our childhood. When Ellie heard our movie night would be a classic from years before she was born, when her parents were just kids, she smiled and asked, "Is it in black and white?"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I write these words on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean having just spent two weeks in Israel, much of that time in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is wholly unique, at once ancient and modern, black and white projected in full technicolor. It's easy to forgive an adult for losing one's temporal bearings there; one so easily feels like a child trying to get a handle on the unfurling of time. And yet, on the spectrum of old and new, Jerusalem favors the ancient, the modern paying homage to the past three thousand years during which Jews inclined their hearts and prayers toward this holy city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As I reflect on my trip, two particular days come to mind. The first included a visit to Mt. Hertzl, Jerusalem's cemetery of soldiers and dignitaries, an apex from which one, standing at Herzl's grave, can see the expanse of the city. In 1902 Hertzl wrote <i>Altneuland</i>, "Old-New Land," a utopian novel about a Jewish state he could only imagine. The book was published in Hebrew translation as "<i>Tel-Aviv</i>" from which the modern Jewish city would one day take its name. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Which brings me to my second memory. As a religious Jew, I had always been inclined toward Jerusalem, it's golden hues and ancient stones. The ride to Israel's capital is a true ascent, an </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">aliyah</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, eliciting in me a strange mix of anticipation and calm. But, it was on this trip that I began to more fully appreciate Tel-Aviv. Strolling the </span>Mediterranean<span style="font-family: inherit;"> boardwalk on Shabbat afternoon, taking in sights and sounds of children frolicking in fountains, of lovers holding hands along tree-lined boulevards, I began to understand what Herzl meant</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">.</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv are sister cities. They complement each other, challenge each other. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had once thought that just as Jerusalem is the "Holy City," Tel-Aviv is, while surely not "unholy" at least "a-holy." It struck me as a distinctly secular place where Shabbat and Jewish values were an undercurrent at best, an afterthought at worst. What I found, however, is that Tel-Aviv is at once a cosmopolitan and diverse city as well as a deeply Jewish one. Some go to shul and others go to the beach. Most have meals with family and visit museums or sit in cafes with friends while enjoying the distinct rhythms of the Sabbath in a country where time is dictated by the Jewish calendar. They experience Jewish living and "observance" differently, but here is a city at a minimum striving to embody what it means for Israel to be the homeland of the Jewish people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a way, Reservoir Hill is the "Tel-Aviv" of Baltimore. The "Jewish" in the New Jewish Neighborhood is subtle, less overt. The Jews who live here and those who pray and study at Beth Am, recognize the value of Jewish tradition in our lives. But we, like Herzl, also appreciate the intersection of old and new -- and like modern Tel-Avivians wish to create a new paradigm for Jewish living, one that surely does not preclude the more traditional forms of Jewish community and practice, but also allows for a great deal of openness and innovation. In other words, our "Jewish" is in part a reflection on our history, the past Jewishness of this community, and equally important, the diversity and dynamism of our neighborhood today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tel-Aviv means literally the rebirth of the ancient, a new layer built above the fossilized remnants of civilizations past. But as I learned last Shabbat in the Land of Israel, the present need not supersede the past. Living communities exist in relationship with elapsed time and, as Herzl understood, the healthiest among these are intentional about that relationship. The old breathes life into the new which, in turn, resuscitates the old.</span></div>
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The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-89428082665075937892013-05-01T08:24:00.000-07:002013-05-01T08:31:14.451-07:00The New Jewish Neighborhood (Part 9): Haunted Houses<br />
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This past week, Miriam and I saw <i>Clybourn Park</i> at <a href="http://centerstage.org/">Center Stage</a>. The Pulitzer Prize winning play offers a midrash of sorts, a rif on <i>A Raisin in the Sun</i> which tells the story of the same house on Chicago's Near Northwest Side. <i>Raisin,</i> you may recall, is the tale of an African American family in the late 1950's who are purchasing a home in an exclusively white neighborhood. The neighborhood association balks and offers the family (unsuccessfully) an exorbitant sum to <i>not</i> move in. <i>Clybourn Park</i> portrays the other side of the narrative, a story (in Act 1) of the white family that sells to the black one and (in Act 2) of a white (pregnant) couple fifty years later who are moving into Clybourn Park and wishing to tear down the now deteriorated home in favor of something bigger and more modern. This time the neighborhood association champions a different kind of historic preservation as they push the family to renovate and not raze the property. It's a complex tale and there is much to consider. </div>
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The piece that sticks with me, though, is the conceit that lurks in the play's shadows both in 1959 and 2009: the suicide of a young veteran who had returned from a nervous breakdown in Korea and hanged himself. What is a haunted house after all if not a place literally saturated with fear and distrust? The play asks a fascinating question: what are the ghosts that linger when houses, blocks and neighborhoods are tainted with the basest human behavior? Can we possess something without being ourselves possessed? </div>
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Recently, I taught at <a href="http://www.limmudbaltimore.com/">Limmud Baltimore</a> on the "New Jewish Neighborhood." A participant suggested that Reservoir Hill has been a "black" neighborhood for decades (implying that I ought to approach our community building and neighborhood revitalization work with humility and care). I fully agree on the second point; human migration is complex; deep humility and patience are called for. But I fundamentally reject the idea that there are black neighborhoods or white neighborhoods or Jewish neighborhoods for that matter. If there is one take-away from my explorations in this blog and elsewhere it is that we all come to our relationships (and neighborhoods, at their best, employ a web of relationships) from our own perspectives. These perspectives are formed over the course of our lives and influenced by our families, our friends, our studies, our faith, our experiences and more. The work in which we at Beth Am are engaged involves a particular congregation of a particular faith tradition and culture in a particular time and place. To be successful we must take note of geography, history and memory, and if we, Jews and human beings, are to move forward, we must talk about these issues openly, honestly and constructively.</div>
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The New Jewish Neighborhood is not a "neighborhood of Jews" though of course we are a part of it. No, it is a lens through which I hope <i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125);">my</i> people will begin to look at our diverse, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-class communities and apply our Jewish values. If we can confront common interests but also differences and challenges in this way, perhaps we can arrest the transmission of fear and distrust and exorcise the ghosts of neighborhoods past.</div>
The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1616874257168907730.post-41764651753773116152013-04-09T07:03:00.002-07:002013-04-12T12:34:16.503-07:00The Shamas is Coming!Not long ago, I was at a shiva minyan (memorial gathering) at the home of a late congregant. She was 100 years old when she died, and the mood in the room, though appropriately solemn, was also uplifting as family members shared stories of yesteryear -- literally a century's worth of nostalgia.<br />
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At one point, the deceased woman's son shared a story. The kids used to play ball in <a href="http://www.druidhillpark.org/">Druid Hill Park</a>, he said, not far from Shaarei Tfiloh Congregation (near the conservatory on the west side of the park). In those days, as today in many traditional shuls, there's a man who's "job" is called <i>shamas</i>. His role is sort of a cross between a caretaker and a ritual director, but his most famous role is to organize the daily <i>minyan</i>, and certain prayers (in non-egalitarian Orthodox settings) require a minimum of ten Jewish men or boys thirteen years or older. This is important because in addition to fulfilling the community's obligation for thrice-daily prayers, there are usually people saying Kaddish, the mourners' prayer which requires the quorum of ten.<br />
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So, inevitably, when the men were short in their count, the <i>shamas </i>would come looking for a few boys to help make <i>minyan</i>, often coaxing them into his car to drive them over to the shul. (One gentleman at the shiva remarked that these days we'd put out an amber alert for such behavior). But boys will boys, and boys outside on a nice day are loath to sit in services, so when some kid would look up from the game and see the man from the shul coming toward them, he would shout, "The <i>shamas </i>is coming!" - and all the boys would scatter. </div>
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To kick off our "<a href="http://bethambaltimore.org/calendar/functions/popup.php?ev=2456393&showCat=&oc=1">In, For and Of the Neighborhood</a>" conversation, I brought a text-study entitled "Cities as Communities of Obligation and Intrinsic Value." The first part of the title was coined by my teacher <a href="http://www.justice-in-the-city.com/?page_id=9">Dr. Aryeh Cohen</a> who builds on Emmanuel Levinas' notion that we are necessarily obliged to our communities simply because we live here -- a fact of our humanity and geography. One can hardly blame a bunch of kids for scrambling when faced with the choice between <i>minyan </i>and a sunny day with friends, but through the <i>shamas's </i>instruction, his willingness to hold them to their obligations to the broader community, those young men learned what it meant to be a part of something bigger than themselves.<br />
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The sage Hillel taught: <i>Al tifrosh min hatzibur, </i>"do not separate yourself from the the community" (<i>Pirket Avot</i> 2:5). One of the great challenges of urban revitalization is to instill a sense of fellowship, of "congregation" in the truest sense of the term among a disparate and diverse population. In <a href="http://www.reservoirhill.net/">Reservoir Hill</a>, we have neighbors who are older and younger, wealthy, poor and middle-class, black, white and brown. We have people who have never left the state of Maryland and transplants from New York and Chicago. We are about as diverse a neighborhood as one can expect to find in Baltimore, and our diversity is a great source of pride.</div>
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The fundamental question in a neighborhood such as ours, though, is the following: how do we instill, in this generation and the next, a sense of obligation, of pride in ownership and responsibility to the other? How do we bring together different people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to work for the common good? Only Jews count in a <i>minyan</i>, but in this "<a href="http://bethambaltimore.org/religiouslife/sermons/neighborhood">New Jewish Neighborhood</a>," we must all be willing to stand up and be counted.</div>
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We can't just sit around and wait. This time the <i>shamas</i> isn't coming.</div>
The Urban Rabbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729754418088375972noreply@blogger.com1